The federal opposition has lashed out at a new report recommending the government proceed with plans to scrap the national body responsible for regulating charities. A Centre for Independent Studies report released on Thursday calls on the government to abolish what is says is the ineffectual Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission.

Victoria plans to require mandatory onsite testing for drugs and alcohol on construction sites for government-funded projects, in a move that has employer groups calling for tough action and the main construction union says is an attempt by the government to distract from its own failings.

Drug workers have warned of "long ranging repercussions" if a prison needle exchange does not go ahead at Canberra's prison. The drug support organisation has offered to help establish and manage a needle and syringe program in the Alexander Maconochie Centre.

The AFL has cracked down on players using mobile phones on match days as well as demanding to know the identity of people invited into the rooms before games. It comes a year after an Australian Crime Commission report claimed links of widespread match-fixing and drug-taking across a range of sports.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has correctly signalled "aid for trade" as a flagship of the government's aid program as, when well targeted, it ostensibly drives self-reliance through building community and private capacity to trade.

The major party candidates for this Saturday's Griffith by-election in Brisbane are trying to convince voters they will speak out on local issues. Two days out from the federal by-election to replace Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Opposition Leader Bill Shorten campaigned with their candidates, the LNP's Bill Glasson and Labor's Terri Butler.

The Australian government has deployed another of its big orange lifeboats to return a group of asylum seekers to Indonesia — the sixth confirmed turn-back since the policy was enacted in December. Sources in Cisarua, where many asylum seekers gather before boarding boats, believe the 34 people onboard had left almost two weeks ago, on January 27.

More than 10,000 children have been killed in the Syrian civil war, the United Nations says, while many more are subjected to "unspeakable" suffering, including rape, torture and recruitment for combat. Thousands more have also been forced to flee their homes during the three-year conflict, according to a report released this week to the Security Council and posted on the UN website.